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A Compelling USP Boosts Sales For Your Business

By: David Coyne, Mon Dec 5th, 2005 09:29:18 PM

USP stands for Unique Selling Proposition.

If you want to differentiate yourself from your competition, then you must have a strong USP. Most business owners never bother to create one. And they're losing out on sales and inquiries.

Rosser Reeves created the term USP in his 1961 book "Reality In Advertising."

He declared that "The proposition must be one that the competition either cannot, or does not, offer."

I realize you may be saying to yourself "I offer the exact same services or products as my competitors, so how can I create an effective USP?"

You mean if a customer asked you why they should do business with you instead of your competitor, you'd really come up blank for an answer?

Take some time to look at your competitors' brochures, web sites and other marketing material.

Is there anything you offer that they don't? Is there a process that you do better than your competitors? Maybe you and your competitors share a process, but they have not mentioned it anywhere in their advertising.

There's a famous story about noted copywriter Claude Hopkins creating a USP for Schlitz Beer.

At the time, Schlitz Beer was number five in market share.

Hopkins made an in-depth study of how the company made its product and was impressed by how Schlitz purified their beer. When Hopkins asked Schlitz executives why they didn't mention this purification process to the consumer, they countered that all beer companies used the same process.

Hopkins replied, "Yes, but others have never told this story."

He went onto to create Schlitz advertising that highlighted the purification process. Schlitz sales zoomed from number five to number one. No other competitors dared make the same claim because they didn't want to look like copycats.

Hopkins summed up his USP philosophy in his book "My Life In Advertising."

"Perhaps countless people can make similar products. But tell the pains you take to excel. Tell factors and features which others deem too commonplace to claim. Your product will come to typify those excellencies. If others claim them afterward, it will only serve to advertise you.

There are few advertised products which cannot be imitated. Few who dominate a field have any exclusive advantage. They were simply the first to tell certain convincing facts."

About the author: David Coyne is a result-focused copywriter and marketing consultant. For sales responsive ads, brochures, web pages and other marketing material, visit his website http://www.dc-infobiz.com

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